To put down the claim of sin, you must detect it, remove the mask, point out the illusion, and thus get the victory over sin and so prove its unreality.

Unmask the ‘serpent’ of racism [Bigotry]—a call to action

…the patient called me the “n” word and told me to get out of her room …I phoned the patient’s Christian Science practitioner to request her help to ease the patient’s agitation. Her prayerful insight was, “This is an attack on Christian Science.”

Several articles and editorials have been written explaining why homosexuals cannot be admitted to membership. One of these I wrote myself, the title: “Homosexuality Can Be Healed.” All I can say in defense of myself for writing it is that it was based on information I thought was authentic, but which later was disproved … If I were to write another article on the subject now, I would probably entitle it, “We’re ALL God’s Children.”

How E.J. Johnson’s Mom Learned to Accept Her Gay Son

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey for OWN’s Super Soul Sunday, Johnson spoke about how she reconciled her Christian faith with having a gay son.

“That was a very hard thing for me,” Johnson tells Winfrey. “So, I had to pray about it.”

Johnson says that the message she received from God when she prayed was love. And that love allowed her to make peace with having a gay son. “This child is innocent,” says Johnson. “He was like this when he was a baby, it can’t be wrong.”

Acceptance of LGBT youth by their parents is critical to current and future mental health, and lack of acceptance can negatively affect everything from school performance to general well-being.

And even worse, some LGBT youth who are rejected by their families are at a higher risk of becoming homeless.

Johnson says it wasn’t easy for her or her husband to accept the news at first, but that they were both quickly in his corner. And they now admit that the elder Johnson’s initial reaction wasn’t the best.

“I had to come to realize this is who he really is, and he’s gonna be happy,” Magic Johnson told ABC News’ Robin Roberts in a televised interview.

After first telling his son that he wasn’t happy with him being gay, the elder Johnson says he went back the next day and apologized to his child, telling Roberts that as his father, he questioned why he was judging his son.

“I knew he was looking for me to accept who he was, and I had to get out of my own way,” said the basketball legend.

Stunning Video Shows First Pride Flag Launched Into Outer Space

And the universe is now LGBT-friendly!

Now there’s a new reason to seriously start investigating the possibility of civilian space travel: one of our favorite non-profit organizations just declared the universe LGBT-friendly.

Planting Peace’s latest display of solidarity with the queer community involves a Pride flag, a high altitude balloon and a GoPro camera. The group, which regularly launches social activism campaigns to raise awareness about issues like LGBT rights and deworming children in developing countries, used the balloon to elevate a rainbow flag up through the Earth’s atmosphere. It eventually reached its peak altitude approximately 21.1 miles above the planet.

The flag remained airborne, floating in outer space for just over three hours before making its descent back to Earth, in what Planting Peace says is a symbolic declaration of the universe as an LGBT-friendly space.

Plating Peace

“It was an honor to send the first Pride flag into space, and it provided a wonderful opportunity to show that Planting Peace will not stop fighting for LGBTQ rights until all sexual and gender minorities experience full, fundamental rights in every corner of the universe,” Aaron Jackson, President of Planting Peace, told The Huffington Post. “The backdrop of space gave us a stunning, inspiring and peaceful canvas for our message of hope to our LGBTQ family. I would love for LGBTQ children who are struggling to see this, and look up to the stars and remember that the universe shines brightly for them, and they are not alone.”

Over the last three years, Planting Peace has engaged in a number of high-profile displays of LGBT visibility and activism. The nonprofit created The Equality House, a rainbow-colored building across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church compound in Topeka, Kansas, in 2013 and purchased another home nearby earlier this year to create the Transgender Pride house. These houses stand in opposition to the Church’s hate ― both literally and figuratively ― and operate as safe spaces for queer people in the area.

This Singer Wanted To Honor A Gay Pal’s Struggle With His New Song

Jamil Kassam said “Rise Now” is about “affirming your own truth.”

New York-based singer-songwriter Jamil Kassam calls his new song “a hymn to all those in need of a voice” that was inspired by a close friend who came out as a gay man.

“I urge you try to believe in the world accepting you for who you are,” the 27-year-old sings in the lyric video for “Rise Now,” which was released Sept. 16. “So stand up and rise now, baby.”

Ultimately, the song is about “affirming your own truth, no matter how hard it is and no matter how afraid you are,” Kassam told The Huffington Post. Although he drew on his gay friend’s experience in writing “Rise Now,” he added, “I decided to make it more universal so that anyone could relate to it.”

Kassam was born in Ivory Coast and spent several years in Paris before he relocated to New York. His international background has influenced what he calls a “multifaceted” sound, which is also inspired by Michael Jackson, Queen and Chaka Khan.

Noting that his mission is about “world commitment” and “striving for global equality,” he told The Huffington Post that the LGBT community has “accepted me for who I am, and I can relate to their struggle.”

“Rise Now,” he added, has personal resonance, too.

“As ironic as it was, I realized this song was also about me coming forward as an artist and owning my music,” he said.

“Belief and expectation — the key elements of hope — can block pain by releasing the brain’s endorphins and enkephalins, mimicking the effects of morphine. In some cases, hope can also have important effects on fundamental physiological processes like respiration, circulation and motor function.”

Shane Lopez, author of the new book “Making Hope Happen,” … emphasize that hope is not about positive thinking. Hope is half optimism, Lopez explains. The other half is the belief in the power that you can make it so.

There is a profound difference between hoping and wishing, he continues. Wishing encourages passivity, whereas hope represents an active stance. “Wishing is the fantasy that everything is going to turn out OK. Hoping is actually showing up for the hard work.”

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I recently had a student who works as a physical therapist thank me for teaching a lesson on the power of Hope to my class as she was able to demonstrate it in her work life .

Hope can be one of the most powerful words in the English language and it’s the major weapon against suicide.

My student is a physical therapist and works with children in the hospital who have cancer. She told me that it is a very challenging occupation because she tries to lift their spirits as well as help them with their physical therapy. She expressed her love for children and how rewarding her job is when she sees them light up during her visit.

Thus she stated my lesson on hope has stayed with her from my teachings and she now uses it to inspire and lift her patients out of a sense of hopelessness.

She stated that it is easier with the children as they are more receptive to hope and not giving up on life. But the parents are at a deeper level of despair and are more difficult to lift out of despair or a sense of hopelessness regarding their child.

She even stated that one worker from the hospital challenged her by asking her who is she to teach hope to somebody who can seem hopeless to the human sense.

Regardless, my student stays on message because she feels she is doing the right thing. She knows it in her heart because she feels such a strong sense of love for the child and the parents and receives this love back ten fold. Thus a lot of the despair lifts from her visits and the child and family no longer feel like giving up.

I asked her how she feels about her work and she stated that she feels a strong sense of love for all of them. She even feels this way for the hospital worker who made the discouraging remarks and sees nothing but hopelessness with the so-called human condition.

I told her that is how she knows she is doing the right thing because she feels the love in her heart and the sense of despair lifts. Her patients are lucky to have her because she cares enough to treat the body and spirit.

Perhaps sometimes the teacher becomes the student as I was moved to the core and this lesson came back 10 fold to help me that day during challenges of my own. See photos below.

It’s about searching for home and home can mean different things and family can mean different things. It doesn’t necessary mean a mother and a father. It doesn’t mean blood relatives. It means who gets you. Who really gets you and supports you and makes you feel good about being who you are and they love you for who you are.

• figurative daring or bravado : the Japanese have taken culinary machismo to a new level.

ORIGIN 1940s: Mexican Spanish, from macho ‘male’ (see macho ).

Published on Sep 21, 2016

Ever felt pressure to “be a man?” American Male, a short film from MTV’s Look Different Creator Competition, is a gritty look at how gender norms make it hard for us to be who we really are. Head to privilege.lookdifferent.org for more on the issue and how to take action.

The powerful film examines the toxic masculinity often pervasive in groups of young, American men and the way disturbing interplay that can be found between same-sex desire and violent homophobia within that group. Filmmaker Michael Rohrbaugh told The Huffington Post that he wanted to showcase the ways in which young, American men navigate a culture of overcompensation to “prove their manhood,” resulting in a heavy psychological toll.

“I would like for viewers to gain a better understanding of what life feels like in the closet,” Rohrbaugh told The Huffington Post. “I also hope they’ll reflect upon their own lives and think about falsehoods that might be holding them back. So many of the social norms we’ve been taught are rooted in discrimination, and so many young people are taught to feel ashamed of who they are, raised to believe that ‘there’s something wrong with them,’ that ‘they’re not normal’ or ‘not who they should be.’ Those types of lies are really destructive, which is why they must be exposed and debunked.”

“American Male” can be viewed above, and head here to lean more about MTV’s Look Different Creator Competition.

While driving to work and engaged in my usual practice of praying in preparation for my shift, I was startled at what I was receiving from divine Mind. Usually my prayers lead me to a sense of peace and an expanded capacity to extend compassion. But in this particular instance, my thoughts were those of a Christian soldier marching off to war, as if trouble was brewing. Certainly there could be no trouble in God’s kingdom, yet I felt a sense of being propelled to pray about protection. I remember wondering aloud, “What is going on?”

Shortly afterward, while responding to my first patient call of the evening, the patient called me the “n” word and told me to get out of her room.

I alerted other Christian Science nurses who were also on duty that evening so that the patient’s immediate needs would be addressed. Then I phoned the patient’s Christian Science practitioner to request her help to ease the patient’s agitation. The practitioner agreed to pray and asked me to call her back at the end of the shift. When I called back later that evening, there was a palpable pause before the practitioner spoke. I sensed she was wondering how the statement she was about to make would resonate with me. Her prayerful insight was, “This is an attack on Christian Science.”

Her words resonated! I had often lamented what seemed like a lack of diversity in the Christian Science community, so, upon receiving the practitioner’s helpful insight, I was awakened by the thought, “Good try, devil, but it’s too late; I’m already ‘in love,’ ” meaning I was already ‘in love’ with practicing Christian Science; I was already deeply committed and devoted to its teachings and also knew that I lived in divine Love, where evil has no power or influence over me.

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First thing’s first: You are lost as hell right now. I mean, just a milk-spill of a person. Time will clean you right up, and when it doesn’t, you’ll clean yourself. It’s 10 years, three states, one botched eyebrow waxing, a few broken hearts, a lot of grief, and a lot of love later. Take a seat. You should hear a few things.

When you say no, you mean no. Saying no when you mean no is called respecting yourself. Self-respect fosters happiness. It’s not a crime to deny someone what he wants to protect what you want.

The gym isn’t intimidating once you realize almost everyone there is moving through some pain. And no one is really looking at you.

Everyone everywhere is moving through some pain.

Your parents love you, but they won’t be able to do right. Not at all. Move on. Literally, emotionally, geographically. There are people who will love you and their love will transform you.

Watch Golden Girls.

Everyone who is popular right now will be intolerably boring in four years. This makes them no better or less than you. You will find your people.

Stop dating someone the moment you want to.

Stop writing the novel because it’s basically a far less interesting and coherent version of The Maze Runner. But keep writing and reading because these things will save you.

Imitating people you admire is only a good idea when you admire the right people. Stop glorifying coldness.

Start tap dancing now. Start saving now. Start doing that thing where you pause a haircut to politely tell the stylist what exactly it is you’re thinking. And start speaking up in class even though you can tell other people don’t like your gay voice. There is nothing wrong with it.

All mean gays hate themselves. Trying to be a mean gay is very surreptitious practice in learning to hate yourself. You will try to be mean because it seems cool. It does not make you exclusive or refined. It isolates you and makes you bitter.

You can only pretend to be mean for so long before you become mean. It’s hard to go back. But it’s not impossible.

When you come out and your mother pulls the car over to the side of the road while driving home from another state, she will tell you to get out. And you will, and you’ll spend hours walking home. In this moment, realize you have a choice.

Home isn’t the house you grew up in.

You don’t have to come out to everyone. Even though a lot of people already think you’re gay. You don’t have to come out now if you don’t want to. You can make it easier for yourself if you want.

99 percent of the time when a man tries to make you feel bad, it’s his insecurity, not yours.

Let yourself fall in love with the polar bear biologist.

The acne will be terrible, and it will get worse. And then it will go away.

And get the eyebrow waxing. It will go very wrong and you’ll completely hate it. But in a few months it will help you love what was there all along.

Disregard this at will. You’ll learn it all anyway.

Peter

Peter Kispert’s writing has recently appeared in Salon and has been cited in The New Yorker, NPR, and Urban Outfitters. He served as editor in chief of Indiana Review, where he founded the Blue Light Books Prize partnership with Indiana University Press, and is a recent graduate of Columbia University’s publishing program. He lives in New York City.

In a powerful new video for the United Nations Refugee Agency, Cate Blanchett and the likes of Stanley Tucci, Keira Knightley, and Chiwetel Ejiofor come together to recite “What They Took with Them,” a poem written by Jenifer Toksvig about displaced population around the world.

The video invites people to sign the #WithRefugees petition, which will be presented at the UN General Assembly on September 19.

The petition is aimed at world leaders and their governments to help refugees and their children find housing, and receive education and employment opportunities.

The video also features pictures from Brian Sokol’s project, “The Most Important Thing,” and firsthand accounts by the refugees he photographed.

You are the only teacher who teaches a lesson along with the English language at this university.

Student – Conversation Class

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Perhaps to understand the value of Hope you must have touched death or come close to it at some point during your life. Who else could be better qualified to teach the power of hope and to never give up.